Love Is Like Oglops
by squalmasy
Summary: ShonenAi ZidaneBlank. Dealing with taboo feelings has led to lies, hurting, guilt, and...oglops. Let's follow Zidane and Blank over the course of one night and see how they manage! Fluff, Lime, and good humour. Oneshot.


**IF YOU ARE IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM OFFENDED BY YAOI MATERIAL, THEN LEAVE NOW! IF YOU FLAME ME, I'LL KICK YOUR ARSE SO HARD, YOU'LL KISS THE MOON! If you clicked on the link to this fic, and you don't like yaoi, then you are the biggest ignoramus to walk the face of this planet. Get out if you're going to complain about "gheiness!" **

Ok, I noticed that has Blank/Zidane fics standing at about zero and none. I did a Google search and found a few of them, but they're from like yeeeeaaaarrrrs ago and I just recently got into this whole B/Z thing :

Uh---nervous glance around To all of my dedicated KH fanfic readers, I'm apologizing in great abundance as I tell you: I am no longer a KH fan! D: ZOMGZ! But...I might come back and continue CoM (I know how much y'all love that one! XD) even though that's unlikely...I always move from one certain fandom to another and never go back...when I got tired of writing .hack fanfics, I stopped and never went back...: Same with Ruroni Kenshin and Sonic the Hedgehog wtf! Don't kill me, Angie...ya never got that Goth Sora...:

I know that B/Z is much less liked than Sora/Riku so I'll try not to get my hopes up in terms of reviews.

Also-urgh Lemon…vv Yeaaaaaaaaaaah Not my best thing. I would totally have written one for this fic, except I was totally not in the mood the whole time I was writing this. So...if you're looking for a sexfic, find it somewhere else...although if I had been in the mood, I'd have written y'all a terrific one. I've done it before, but...like I said, I didn't feel up to it this time. Too fluffy of a fic, perhaps? Anyway, you can find great B/Z yaoi sexfics up on the net, and they're better than I could write (I tend to become shameful when I write lemons and everything becomes too figurative xx!) So this one is just a nice little citrus/lime. Awwwws, too bad!

With all that said, here we goooo!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Zidane or Blank, the sexy beasts. And I don't own the other, non-sexy beasts either. wtf

**-o0o0o0o0o0o-**

**Oglops: The Language of Love**

**One-shot by Teizontidus**

The black night had arrived; the air had relented from its heated daytime stare. If there ever were stars or moons in the sky, they were shied away from the eyes of anyone below by either thick clouds or simply the heavy looming blackness of the sky; nobody the wiser.

As peaceful times came to the world, so did a sedative carelessness in the populace. Something as foreshadowing and meaningful as this detail became obsolete, nothing worthy of anyone's conscious thought. And so it was in the slowly sailing airship of Tantalus. Anything at all could divert one's attention from the sky. At then, they were occupied enough as to not have noticed the starless and ominous expanse in the first place.

"Ahn," a 17-year old blonde called Zidane touched a delicate hand to his chest, gasping quietly and dramatically and succeeding in looking quite feminine. He looked up at the other boy, a red-head named Blank, the older in his 18 years.

He stepped closer, candle lights from all around tinting his face a soft orange hue with dramatic, dark shadows.

"I love you," he said, lowering the lids on sultry, ultramarine blue eyes. Blank gripped his shoulders and stared intensely, low lights also intensifying his features.

"I know, but, my love, we cannot be..."

Zidane glanced up at him, hurt evident on his delicate features as he tore away from Blank's hands. Teardrops subtly pricked at the corners of his eyes.

"But, why? Why? Oh..." He fell to the floor and held his weight on one arm, gazing downward as he choked a tear onto to the wooden floor. His legs were strewn out beside him and torso twisted, creating a pose perfect for a painting. He began to sob openly and clamped his free hand over his mouth.

"Nnhh..." He still sobbed, and Blank's gaze softened as he leaned beside the blonde on the floor. He wrapped his arms around the smaller boy and turned him with gentle finesse, staring into his eyes somberly.

"I don't want this...if we can't be together in the end..." Zidane whispered, and Blank touched a gentle finger to his lips.

"Hush, my love, say no more...make it last," he said, almost breathless, and both of them lowered their eyelids somewhat. Blank's lips came dangerously close to Zidane's. Just as they were about to touch, the blonde drew a shaky breath and whispered something just barely on the line of coherency.

"Promise not to regret me...I will always love you more than...oglops..."

Blank stopped his descent, and both his and Zidane's eyes snapped open. Their gazes locked for a split-second before the ominous silence exploded in everyone's and anyone's but their hysterical laughter.

Suddenly, the lights flicked on and the candles were blown out. The whole group of Tantalus was laughing still, and Baku stepped forward to help Blank off of Zidane, sporting a wacky grin as he saw the expression of aftershock still plastered on the red-head's face.

"BWAHAHAHA! 17 years old and the little fool still can't remember his lines! But I have te' admit, you boys've got the drama and romance down pat! BWAHAHAHAHA!"

Blank scratched his head and nodded as Baku and the rest of the group left the room, expression returning to his face. He glanced down and saw Zidane sitting impishly on the floor, wiping away his stage-tears.

"I know the lines!" he insisted with an embarrassed tingle on his cheeks, "I was just thinkin' bout something else!"

Blank held his forehead and sighed loudly. "Obviously, you twit," he said, "Her name is 'Ophelia,' not 'Oglops.'"

Zidane pulled himself up to his feet and gave his friend a dubious stare.

"Well fine, g'head an' make fun of me. B'sides, she might as well be an oglop if she has to compete with my stunning"-he struck a sexy pose-"Cassra."

He chuckled and flicked his tail coyly as he sauntered out of the room to get a midnight snack. Blank watched him go, speechless. He almost yelped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, but relaxed when he saw it was only Marcus: his most trusted and best "bro" in Tantalus.

"I don't think that kid'll ever notice those girly stares, bro...ye' might actually consider telling 'im how you're feelin'?"

The red-haired boy gave him an irritated glare with the one eye he had. His other was gone, its spot covered with graft skin in a vastly darker color than his natural tone.

"That's just what you're thinkin'. Who says I have anything to tell him, anyway?"

Marcus shot back an unconvinced stare. "C'mon, don't deny it. Baku dun' make you the lead to Zidane's lady every time we perform just for the bloody hell of it, you know," he said pointedly, and Blank felt a lump catch in his throat and stop him from quick-thinking a comeback.

He suddenly realized that this was because what Marcus had pointed out was quite...true. He felt his face heat up with a certain degree of disdain toward Baku for noticing his not-particularly-platonic affections for Zidane (and probably pointing it out to the rest of the world, as well.)

He felt another surge of irritation. It was absolutely none of their business that he was in something of love with the boy. Not at all! He was just thankful that Zidane seemed not to have noticed the enthralling reality in the stage-kisses that they shared so often.

He sighed as Zidane walked back into the room, chewing. Marcus gave Blank a knowing glance then left the two alone, closing the door as he left.

The blonde looked up at him from across the room, mouth full. "M'kay, d'you want to finish running through?" He swallowed the last of his food and glanced at Blank with a smile. "No oglops this time, I promise. Unless you want to hit the sack," he added with a glance at the clock. It was around 11:30 PM.

Blank, instead of acknowledging the comment, seemed to have his mind elsewhere.

"Zid, can I...uh, ask ye' a question?"

Zidane blinked and nodded, sitting down on a wooden table. "Yeah, shoot."

"Have you ever...been with anyone?"

A little shocked at the complete randomness of the question, Zidane let his gaze travel toward the ceiling, blushing lightly. He silently recalled his two only past lovers, Garnet and Kuja.

He had slept with the princess once and had cruelly broken it off with her once he realized that his sexual orientation was "abnormal..." and had later been...forced into submission by his brother. Sometime after, he had returned to Tantalus to continue with the type of life he led before the whole ordeal with Garnet, perhaps only a bit more mature with his age and harder to deal with as he was constantly around sexual stimulants (sans Ruby and maybe Cinna. And Baku, and...well, point hopefully gotten across.)

It sure had been a long time since he had had a sexual encounter, surprising to him because he was a homosexual around men all day long. But then he called to mind the fact that everyone in Tantalus was quite straight, and held himself steadily, treading the thin ice above self-loathing and depression.

One could say he didn't appreciate being attracted to males, but, he was a lost cause. When he accidentally had come across Ruby coming out of the shower, unclothed, and returned to his room only to find himself limp as a loaf of bread, he knew there was no salvation he could possibly hope for.

The whole time of his thinking, Zidane had been staring pensively at the ceiling. Blank realized that his out-of-the-blue question probably threw the boy off and he started to regret asking it.

"Uh, sorry, I didn't think about how weird that must sound," he tried with a weak laugh, "you don't have to answer that, bro..."

Zidane's gaze snapped down hurriedly as he collected his thoughts. "Oh-! No--err, sorry about that, I zoned out for a second."

He paused and a faint pinkness crossed his cheeks and nose. "Yeah, I've been with some folks..."

Blank couldn't help but chuckle, and felt it to be a nervous reaction on his part. Of course Zidane had slept with girls, how could he not? The boy was 17 and damned beautiful. Besides, he had that girlfriend, the princess or what not, that he had constantly been pining over. He wondered how managed forgetting about that one.

He absently figured that people probably fell in love with him every day. Blank certainly was; over and over with every passing second. Now that Zidane was older, his body matured and filling a more muscular and still delicate mold, how was it possible for anyone to resist him? His affections had gone from early formation from before Zidane left Tantalus to a full fledged passion after the blonde had returned.

And thus he bitterly felt himself become a statistic...another obsessive Zidane fangirl, his only distinguishing factor being his...well, manhood. _How pleasant_, he thought to himself.

"What about you?" Zidane asked through a yawn. The red-head blinked and lowered his eyes to a skin graft sitting repulsively on his left arm.

"Yeah, I've been around pretty well..." he stopped himself and looked up. Perfect, now he had made himself sound loose and prostituted. "Err, shouldn'a said it like that, s'not what I meant..." he mumbled.

The blonde laughed and swung his tail cheerfully.

"Nah, quit actin' like such a girl, Blank! You said it, and it's not goin' back in your mouth."

Blank shrugged sheepishly and sent his gaze out the window at the darkness.

"Oh," Zidane started, but stopped himself; he hadn't intended to insult the older boy. He blinked tiredness from his eyes best he could so that he could stay and talk with Blank. Lately the red-head hadn't been very chummy with him and he was...disappointed, to say the least. The only time they ever had a conversation this deep (and it really wasn't quite so anyway) was during their stage performances, and those lines were recited from a script.

Blank seemed to like Marcus more lately, anyway. Even though he and the boy shared a bunk, Blank slept on the bottom, running no risk of waking Zidane's sleep, and always was in bed after Zidane and awake before him. The blonde felt his stomach knot as he silently hoped that his friends hadn't discovered his...unfortunate situation (if it could be considered unfortunate to be around desirable beings all day) and had started to avoid him.

He glanced out the window and saw the unsleeping and unexhausted lights of Alexandria in the distance. Blank saw it also.

"Ah, good...at this rate, we'll be in Alexandria in three days' time for the performance."

Zidane stared at him and nodded after a moment. Blank, still staring out the window, suddenly remembered his company and blushed himself back to reality.

"Oh-so uh..." he fumbled with his words uncomfortably, "...you must be, y'know, pretty excited to see Garnet an' all..." He smiled uneasily.

"G-Garnet? Uh..." Zidane stuttered and shook his head "no," albeit quite vaguely. "I thought you knew: we broke up."

Blank's one eyebrow shot up and his mouth opened to shout a profanity, but he thought better of it.

"Man, I wish you had told me! Sorry, bro...why'd you break up?"

They both sighed in unison and looked at each other.

"It's fine, actually I just..."

He stopped himself from continuing further, not sure of what would happen if he told the older boy the truth: that he had left Garnet because he realized he was homosexual.

Obviously, he trusted Blank deeply, and would give him this information, if it didn't run the risk of destroying their already feeble friendship. And he wanted to make their bond stronger, not even weaker.

Instead, he made the best story up that he could in the limited time that Blank's pensive eye studied him.

"Well, she uh-she decided that she'd rather be with-...Steiner," he finished, trying not to make a face at his strange fib. Blank was silent and stared back.

"That knight...? From Alexandria?" he asked and Zidane nodded solemnly. That just...made no sense, none whatsoever. What person in his or her right mind would dump Zidane for an overweight, mascara-wearing, good-for-nothing imbecile like Steiner?

"Are you serious?" he asked, and their eyes met.

"Yeah," the blonde answered half-heartedly. He sighed and stood up, stretching out and thinking of something to say to lighten the mood.

"Hm, I know it's so hard to believe," he started with a little smile and a laugh as he stretched along his body's length, "since I'm sooo unbelievably sexy!" He laughed again and winked jokingly (though his heart broke to do it) at Blank, who was focusing more attention on the blonde's twisting torso and muscles.

He pushed a weighted breath through his teeth, and in barely a whisper, said:

"You _are_."

Zidane stopped short and dropped his arms from the stretch, and Blank was awoken from his ministrations again. Quickly their eyes met and they stared at each other for what seemed to be an eternity.

"Blank..." Zidane was wide-eyed, "what did...did you just say something?" Pinkness kissed his cheeks just barely. Blank felt his face heat up from embarrassment and he held himself from answering before he could think straight, fearful that all his stuttering and mumbling would invalidate anything that he said.

"No, I didn't say anything," he finally said, looking victimized in his best convincing tone, but Zidane watched him suspiciously, not convinced at all.

"No, really...I'm sure you said something..."

Blank shook his head. "Honest, bro."

Zidane opened his mouth to say something more, but there was a sudden loud crash and the sound of Cinna's groaning and Baku's maniacal laughter. Baku slammed the door open and started talking immediately.

"Ey boys!" he boomed, "Enough foolin' around! Time for yer first dress rehearsal!"

Zidane's and Blank's heads both shot sideways as their eyes nearly popped out at their leader.

"DRESS REHEARSAL! At 12 in the morning!" Blank yelled in surprise, and Baku laughed heartily.

"I ain't jokin', fools!" he bellowed powerfully, "It's times like these that put your improvisation skills to work! Let's see some Tantalus skills! Yer on in 10! BWAHAHAHAHA!"

He finished, as always, laughing crazily and slammed the door back closed behind him.

Zidane and Blank stared at each other for a second. The younger blonde ran his fingers through his hair and cleared his throat. He leaned over to pick up his dress and theatre britches (he played the part of the maiden Cassra and Cassra's husband because of his wonderful talent) and, glancing between his legs using the balance that only a tail could grant, caught Blank staring at his-

Suddenly worried and a little confused, he stood up and gave the older boy a stare that said, "I'm onto you," even though he wasn't really quite sure there was anything to be onto at that point. He knew that if he asked Blank, the boy would just deny it, but he was almost positive that he was, if not intentionally, then at least subconsciously hitting on him.

Blank, on the other hand, felt much too open to interpretation and inwardly chided himself on allowing his attraction to manifest itself so obviously. He looked away from Zidane's suspicious stare and gathered his own costume, purposely staring at a crack in the ground to safely keep his gaze from the blonde as they dressed.

He wasn't sure why he had suddenly become so perverse or easy to read, but he knew that Zidane was taking notice of his actions and he needed to stop, soon, if he didn't want their acting to become unnatural and awkward.

When he gazed up, his friend was dressed in his first costume, the dress, and was pulling the tie out of his ponytail, letting his hair fall to a decent length and tumble on his shoulders prettily, creating a very convincing feminine appearance. Blank tried to smile at him like he normally would but found the situation slightly too awkward. Instead, it came out as an apprehensive twitch.

Zidane saw this and pouted slightly.

"It looks that weird? Ugh, I figured since I'm playing a girl, I should..." his hand touched his hair self-consciously and he glanced down in embarrassment, "...it looks terrible, doesn't it..."

Knowing that his every action would be closely analyzed, Blank restrained his first urge to yell out that, for Erebus' sake, he looked lovelier than any real lady ever had or would.

"...Of course it doesn't," the older boy said, and it sounded greatly more unnatural than he would have wanted. Zidane grinned and Blank caught a twitch of his tail beneath the layered skirt.

"Thanks," the blonde smiled and, brushing himself off, walked out the door. "Let's get out there, eh?"

A little confused, Blank nodded.

**-o0o0o0o0o0o-**

The rehearsal started off well with a dance scene between Blank and Zidane. Baku didn't need to stop then more than the one time Zidane had needed a line prompt (and had almost gotten a good pounding right then and there.)

Their waltz was choreographed perfectly; their steps in perfect timing and relaxed and easy, their quick movements accompanied their perfect flow. Blank couldn't help but smile at the triumphant glint in Zidane's eyes after that scene.

All went well in the following scenes as well, some mildly romantic scenes between Blank and Cinna (who played the princess to whom Blank's character was engaged.) Thankfully, there was no contact between them other than an embrace; Cinna had warned everyone that if he were to have to kiss any man, there would be hell to pay. And so the script had been edited more to his liking (poor Blank wouldn't have complained, though.)

Zidane and Blank put on a particularly heart wrenching performance in the scene where Aeolus, Zidane's male part, and Evander, Blank's role, fight to the death. As with their dance, the fight was so well choreographed that their moves seemed spontaneous and, to an extent, unrealistically realistic.

Neither blundered nor faltered until Blank drove his blade through Zidane's heart (falsely, with a clever stage trick.) The blonde's sword fell to the ground beside him and hollow clank was the only noise to penetrate the awed silence as nearly everyone in Tantalus admired their stunningly professional acting (Baku, of course, only watched with the extreme urge to burst out laughing at the peculiar scene.)

After some griping with Marcus' character, Blank's part fled and the scene ended.

Some time later, the last scene came about, the same one that they had been running through earlier (albeit somewhat unsuccessfully.) Something of it made the whole scene more involved, being in full costume. As the scene played through, the intensity only grew.

Blank held Zidane as he lie on the ground with shimmering tears dotting his eyes, and the blond, amazingly soft locks of hair tangled gently in his fingers as he leaned down closer. Zidane drew his shaky breath and whispered:

"Promise not to regret me...I'll always love you more than...Ophelia."

The two shared a knowing smile and Blank closed the distance between them, immediately caught by the figurative spark that electrified the both of them at that moment. He felt acute warmth in his gut and a nervous tension tugged at his chest. Gently, he tangled his fingers further in the blonde hair behind Zidane's head and nudged their lips together further, on end from the completely unfamiliar feeling of kissing Zidane like this.

It was when the blonde moaned heatedly beneath his lips that he realized all of Tantalus was watching them and that they had shared much too lengthy of a lip lock-embarrassed, Blank pulled away and continued his acting.

Still hunched over Zidane, who now lay on the ground with a smile only Blank could see, the older boy sat upright and gently caressed the blonde's forehead. From there, the audience could see that Blank held a dagger, already driven to the hilt into Zidane's heart, and the spotlight captured the two dramatically.

"And so she dies with a smile on these lips," he recited, brushing his fingers across Zidane's lips and drawing an involuntary shudder, "and a love in this tender heart." Blank then pulled the knife from its trick position, now covered in fake blood. He watched it somberly and finally, sighed wearily.

"Alas, I only wished her last moments to be without sadness...but what have I done?" he wondered, staring emptily at the dagger he held before himself. Tears fell freely now, and in the distance, bells could be heard, a morose and black tone. He wept only more, laying partly beside and partly on Zidane, caressing his hair.

"My love, my love, now all is well

The dreadful tolling of the bell

Now tells the court to find me here,

But I shan't die without you near."

With this he took Zidane's limp hand and held its fingers closed around the same dagger, driving it into his own heart (or so it looked) and putting on a believable expression of torturous pain.

The bells tolled on, and a weeping girl was heard in a bush by the forest clearing. It was Cinna, who played Ophelia, the princess promised to marry the Prince Evander (Blank.) In his dress and wig he wept unremittingly and recited the last line of the play:

"Honor and my moment's pride,

For at your hand this girl has died;

With loving gaze you cut her throat,

Impassive as her life was spent;

Your love for her has caused your woes,

Considered as uneasy throes;

In your joyless face, you wrote:

'This grief was never my intent.'

Your grieving, bleeding heart, it haunts,

Just as my lasting promise daunts;

Slit my heart and hope to die,

For you, but one satanic lie."

The bells tolled once more, and then silence but for Cinna's weeping. And the play ended.

**-o0o0o0o0o0o-**

"BRAVO, boys!" Baku laid his hand on Zidane's shoulder with a loud clap. "Very convincing performance! I bet you're glad now that you've got this thing near perfectly ready, you got yerselves a good three days to relax! Not that I won't give ye a good pounding if you start slacking! GWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

He gave Zidane and Blank a thumb-up and proceeded to help clean up the stage a bit. The two boys retired to their shared loft and silently started to undress from their costumes. When Zidane was down to his undergarments (boxers, per se) and had brushed his teeth, he glanced at Blank and saw that his friend was sitting on the bottom bunk and staring down into space.

Silently still, the blonde climbed the finicky ladder onto his own bunk and lay down. A few moments later, he heard Blank fall back as well, and a delicate silence prevailed. Just as the red-head was about to shut off the lights, Zidane finally gathered the courage to speak.

"Hey, uh..." feeling vulnerable and helpless at this point, Zidane twirled a lock of his now-ponytailed hair around his index finger as he stared at the ceiling. The older boy halted.

"...What is it?" Blank asked, sighing not in irritation, but from discomfiture and a lack of a better thing to do. Zidane fidgeted.

"On stage," he continued slowly, "that-that, uh...kiss..."

Blank inwardly groaned. So Zidane had noticed. That was the very thing he had not wanted to talk about. Such woebegone luck!

"Listen, Zidane, I...I didn't mean anything by it..."

'_Oh, brilliant_,' he thought penitently, '_Now I've done it..._'

"Oh," Zidane interrupted his thoughts, sounding, for some reason, almost disheartened, "well, it seemed pretty real to me-"

He immediately clapped a hand over his mouth, silently upbraiding himself for saying such a thing. An extremely heavy silence settled and Zidane laughed awkwardly, feeling almost ready to cry. Why in heaven did he open his mouth and say that! Such forlorn luck; how unpleasant that must have sounded...shakily, he drew a breath and spoke just as Blank reached out of his bunk to finally shut the light off.

Zidane's chest tugged painfully as he held in the threatened tears.

"P-Please, just pretend I never said that...ugh." He reprimanded himself on just digging himself even deeper, and there was no sound whatsoever from Blank, who was at then lying in shock, eyes wide in the pitch-blackness. What in hell had Zidane meant by saying that?

"Zid...ane," he tried quietly, and heard shuffling above him. "You're still up..." he tried again, and heard more shuffling and a little whine. A sniffle.

Blank's face tensed. "Aw, don't tell me you're-" he shook his head to himself, not wanting to upset the boy any further. Suddenly he felt very guilty.

"Don't fret, please!" he said, this time above a whisper. "I mean-why? You are into girls, aren't you?"

He said this with a detectable amount of hopefulness and Zidane fidgeted a bit and rubbed at his eyes. He had been so sure that Blank was attracted to him, and this could prove to be his only chance to find out...

"Uhm..."

"Zidane...?"

He sighed and bit his lip, preparing for the worst.

"I'm-I'm not...into girls..."

**-o0o0o0o0o0o-**

Panic. Fervid terror. Zidane was overcome with inner hysteria as the rest of the world seemed to shut down to supply this sudden exploding adrenaline rush. He should have known-he had only been fantasizing that Blank was attracted to him! The brooding silence proved too overwhelming for him.

"Oh my god, oh my god..." he whispered, "I'll sleep outside, I'll-switch roommates, I'm so sorry, I-"

And then a staggering sense of calm overcame him as he heard Blank's comforting voice again.

"Zidane...you don't have to...were you-were you serious? You're..."

The blonde buried himself under the covers and moaned in discontentment. Blank felt heat rise to his face and he involuntarily touched a finger to his own lips, biting the bottom one.

"It's okay...there's nothing to worry about, I swear-I mean, I-" he sucked a breath through his teeth, "...I am, too. I...like guys."

Another unholy silence settled, but this time laced with anticipation and hesitation rather than unresolved pandemonium. Finally, after a long time, Zidane could only muster up one word: "Um."

He sniffled. "Don't, Blank, it's cruel," he whined through hot and slow tears, "Can't joke 'bout it...please, don't joke 'bout it...mmf..." He buried his face in his pillow, thoroughly embarrassed to be so emotional at the age of 17.

He was certain that he had ruined his friendship with Blank, and knew that from that, everyone else would catch on (because it wasn't so that Zidane looked very straight, either, with his clothes and hair,) and they'd all throw him out. Garnet would never take him back after what he did to her, and Kuja would probably take him in but want to constantly have sex in creepy, _abnormal_ ways...

But he just loved Tantalus. It wasn't as if he was worried about being kicked out because he knew he had nowhere else to stay, he just was simply too attached to everyone in the theatre troupe/thieving group. Especially Blank. And now, what would happen to him?

"No," Blank replied in a low tone, sounding extremely serious. "Zidane, I would **never** lie about something like that." He took a deep, lingering breath. "I mean...I lo-" He stopped himself, not wanting to upset the situation further. Zidane whined quietly into his pillow and pulled his face up a bit.

"You...you what?" He asked, sounding (and if it hadn't been completely dark, looking) mousy. Blank grimaced and pulled himself up to stand on his bunk and look over the railing of Zidane's to watch him in the darkness (or watch where he figured the boy was.)

"It's nothing. But honestly..." he subtly changed the subject here, "...I'm not kidding. Why would I try to hurt you? You're too important to me," he said reassuringly, not knowing if what he said sounded platonic or...romantic. And he didn't care, as long as he could make the blonde stop crying.

And he did stop-at least, Blank figured he had since the sniffling ceased. He wasn't sure what to do then, so he waited.

"I'm important...to you..." Zidane repeated what the older boy had said, sounding more like a giving back an incredulous statement than repeating it in his understanding.

"And I would never hurt you," Blank said reassuringly, reminding him of the other part of what he had said before. He withstood the urge to reach out and hold Zidane's hand.

"Well, then why...do you avoid me all the time? It looks like everyone else is more important to you than I am, lately..."

Ohhh. A vicious stab to Blank's heart. That was such a cruel thing to say, but...it was true (the avoiding part was, at least.) He didn't realize that Zidane had taken notice; to him, it seemed that the blonde could be just as happy around the other members of Tantalus, and even better as none of them were (assumedly) sexually attracted to him. He was only trying to keep their friendship alive by not getting too close...if that made any sense...

"Zidane, I..." Blank held himself onto the railing of the younger boy's bunk and tried to find Zidane's eyes in the darkness. "I'm...sorry. I didn't mean for you to feel that way, honest." He succeeded in sounding guilt-ridden.

"But why?" the blonde asked again, leaning closer to where he figured Blank was.

"W-Why? Well, because...I don't want you to get hurt...you saw all the stuff I did earlier, spacing out and...staring at you, sayin' stuff I shouldn'a said. I just can't help it, so I had te' stop being around you."

"Just me? Not anybody else?"

"...Just you," Blank answered cautiously.

Zidane smiled to himself, still not quite registering the earnest tone in the older boy's voice.

"Why me?"

Blank felt his face get warm and was sure his face was out-shining his hair in redness.

"Do I really have to answer that...? It just is, and I've got no good reason for ya..."

They both quieted then, silently feeling each other's breathing and their own slamming heartbeats. It was now officially 2 AM, and the starless expanse of a sky was suddenly all too noticeable as each lamented in his own newfound understanding of his situation. Prima Vista moved as slowly as it could without dropping to the ground like a rock, and if he had wanted, Zidane's window was close enough to the ground for him to have counted blades of grass beneath them (with a flashlight, of course.)

Each tense with over sensitivity, the crickets outside (or were they oglops?) were now chirping as loud as an on-beating tambourine. An owl flew by the window, graceful and sophisticated.

"Blank," Zidane finally whispered, nearly breathless with anticipation, "can I kiss you?"

Blank closed his eye and was amazed at how the darkness was so thick that he seemed to be able to see Zidane better in his head.

"I'm...honored that you would, but..." the older boy glanced away nervously, "I don't want us to do anything we'd regret..."

Zidane felt his heart fall to his stomach.

"Would you regret it?" The blonde asked seriously, staring at the place where he knew Blank's voice was coming from.

He held his breath, a little shaken by the question. "O-of course I wouldn't," Blank said.

"I wouldn't either, so there," Zidane whispered, voice cracking in his dry throat.

Blank couldn't help but smile. "I don't want to until you know for sure, Zidane," he said somberly, as if it were the hardest thing in the world for him to say (and it was, he couldn't believe that he was standing there, denying a kiss from Zidane!) "Maybe another time."

"Until I know what?" It was asked incredulously.

"That you're really...y'know, into guys."

They both paused for a moment and Zidane pouted, pushing a heavy breath through his closed lips.

"Listen, Blank, I gotta tell ya something."

Blank blinked. "Okay..."

Zidane looked away for a moment and half-heartedly brushed his fingers through his hair, a nervous habit. "I-I...it's about Garnet," he said.

The older boy felt completely thrown on a curve. Garnet...? What did she have anything to do with this? "Go on," he urged.

"She never was with Steiner...well, at least not while I was around to know about it."

Blank's eyebrow went up slowly. "Uhm?"

"What I mean is, she never dumped me for nothin'. I left her."

This made sense to Blank, at least vaguely. That story about Steiner was fake, obviously. Honestly...nobody would dump Zidane for him. Nobody. Besides, he had been sure the cumbersome knight had gotten with that one swordswoman...

"You left her," Blank repeated, heart feeling lighter. "C'n you tell me why?"

"Well..." Zidane took a deep breath. This was the point he was going to make anyway, even if Blank hadn't asked. "I left her because I realized that I'm..." He paused and sighed. "Yeah."

The older boy's eye widened a little and he whistled quietly. "No kidding? So this wasn't just a feeling that was awoken by me? Aw, damn..."

"B-Blank!"

"Haha! Relax, ah'm just kidding you. You don't know how happy I am that you told me that," he smiled in the darkness. Zidane laughed too.

"See? I'm honest that guys are my thing. I've never been with anyone after Garnet. Truuuuuly," he added for emphasis.

"Hm, that could mean that Garnet just wasn't your type, bro...maybe you should wait until you've bedded a few more ladies," Blank said solemnly, and chuckled at Zidane's irritated sigh.

"Blaaank," he whined.

The red-head chuckled again and reached over the short railing to ruffle Zidane's hair.

"Just kiddin', just kiddin'," he said. "But you're sure? I mean, since you've never been with a real _man_," Blank sounded a bit boastful, "I'm not positive I want to."

Guilt hit Zidane like a pile of bricks. He had forgotten all about...

He wasn't as innocent as he looked...even though he certainly wasn't oversexed or loose, he had been with...his own brother. Even if it hadn't been of his free will, he figured he'd need to tell Blank sometime and this was the best opportunity.

Not that Kuja was a "real _man_" or whatever Blank claimed to be. In any case, he was honestly considering telling his friend about it.

"Zidane? You alive?" Blank asked, frowning.

"Um...yeah."

"Oh...? You having reconsiderations now of all times? Oh, of all the rotten..."

"No, it's not that," Zidane said quickly, slightly offset by Blank's joking attitude when discussing something like that. Perhaps, he considered, they were just able to adapt to each other too well.

"Ok, then what's wrong?" The older boy's light tone became a slightest bit heavy, and he leaned in as he realized the seriousness of the conversation, reprimanding himself for being so lighthearted in this delicate situation.

"I think I should tell you...I have been with guys...err...a guy."

"O-oh! You have?" Blank was slightly disappointed, but tried not to make it evident. "You shrewd little hussy!" He joked, but Zidane was slightly taken aback. "But didn't you say you weren't with anybody after Garnet?"

"I lied," Zidane told him pointedly, and Blank released a quiet breath.

"Oh. Don't lie to me again, ok?"

Zidane looked up dubiously. "Fine."

"So...who was it? Steiner? Vivi? A prostitute?"

The blonde nearly choked. "What do you think I am!...Ugh, never mind."

This piqued Blank's interest. "Ohhh, now you have to tell me."

"No I don't," Zidane insisted sourly. "I don't have to tell you anything."

"I know you don't," Blank said somberly, looking disappointed. "But you will anyway."

The younger boy frowned and glared through the darkness at his friend.

"Fine," he said, "but you have to promise it won't change our friendship. Or our potential...relationship. You promise?"

This statement worried Blank somewhat, and he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know now. Actually, it just made him want to know more...

"I swear it on my good eye," he said earnestly.

"Sworn on all that is holy? Sworn on the Grand Maester Seymour? (A/N: wtf) Sworn on your life and limb? Sworn on what separates you from a eunuch? Sworn on-"

"_Zidane_."

"Ha, ha..." his humorous tone fell back to the corner of his mind and he calmed down. "You'd better not be lying."

"I'm not," he insisted impatiently. Why was he stalling so much?

"...I know this will be hard for you to understand, but...it was..."

"Zidane...?"

"It-It was...Kuja."

Kuja? Kuja...

KUJA!

"Y-Your brother!" Blank nearly choked on his own tongue, not knowing what to think.

Zidane was instantly regretting it, and he knew that if any of the blackness were cast away to reveal any part of Blank's face right then, he wouldn't have liked the expression on it at all. He choked a little and felt tears rising to his eyes again.

"Blank, your promise--!" He reminded a little desperately, believing whole-heartedly that the promise was probably meaning nothing now. After all, how could anyone, even Blank, forgive him for having incestuous relations? He chided himself angrily. That was the absolute best thing he could have said to ruin any friendship with Blank. He started to cry quietly, but not enough for Blank not to notice.

"Zidane, I..." he guiltily remembered his promise, "I'm sorry about my reaction. Don't start cryin' on me now...I was just a little surprised."

"Awwn...who'm I kiddin'?" Zidane whispered, wanting desperately to bawl his eyes out but knowing that the rest of Tantalus was probably asleep, he didn't. "You probably don't even wanna be near me now...you can go away, it's fine...nnh..."

This broke Blank's heart. How could Zidane trust him so little after him making so big a deal about this promise?

"I promised you it wouldn't change nothin'. And even if I hadn't promised anything, I...I wouldn't leave you for the world, bro. You're really somethin', you know that?" He chuckled.

Zidane sniffled and lay on his back. "Are...you serious?" he asked dubiously.

"Yeah. I don't know what happened between you and that...Kuja," he said the name with a certain degree of scorn, "But as long as you're here with me right now, I'll love you all the same."

Zidane was quieted. Love...? Blank didn't realize how impacting that last statement had been to him. He bit his lip. Maybe Blank really did want to be with him, despite all the mindless griping...

"Blank, d'you want to come sit up here with me? Let's talk..."

Briefly wondering if there was any more breaking news that would come out, Blank sighed. "But I'm talking to you fine right here..."

"Please, just come up." He said it so persistently.

"Okay."

The steps on the finicky ladder creaked loudly as Blank's weight, greater than Zidane's, stressed upon them. He hoped they wouldn't break on him.

When he got up to the top, Blank rested his back against the wall on which the top bunk was propped. Thankfully, the ceiling was high enough to accommodate for him as he sat there.

Zidane sighed contentedly and stretched a little, laying his head down on Blank's lap with a yawn. Blank felt his face heat up and he stuttered, not sure if he should play with Zidane's hair, or caress his back, or something...

"Uh..."

"Heh heh heh," Zidane chuckled coyly. "You're comfortable. Can I sit on your lap?"

"Zi...Zid-"

"Is that a 'yes?'" Zidane said quietly as to not wake up the Nero bros in the next room over.

"Uhhm...ye-yeah." He hadn't considered how uncomfortable being so close to the younger boy would make him, after all the time of being so far from him.

The blonde smiled, pulling his head off of Blank's lap and replacing it with his cute little bum. Blank had his legs crossed, so there was a crevice that fit perfectly to the shape of Zidane's rear. He nested himself in quite comfortably, and sighed happily, nuzzling his cheek into Blank's chest and feeling the boy tense up considerably.

"Zidane...you sure you're okay with this?"

"Yep," the boy smiled as Blank relaxed his body and let Zidane curl into him more. The boy moaned in content, ever softly, and his index finger drew idle circles on Blank's bare abdomen. He noticed that the taller boy shivered every time he did it, and smiled.

"So," Zidane started again, "you're the best-hearted person I've ever met. Even though I was raped by my own brother, you still love me?"

Just as Blank was starting to feel comfortable again, Zidane had to go and ruin it all with a sentence like that.

"Rape?" He swallowed a lump in his throat. "You mean, you didn't want..."

Zidane huffed. "You're such a prude," he said jokingly, "don't worry about it, I'm not going to get emotional about it...never have, never will."

"..."

"Okay, okay, so I lied to you again. I got pretty pissed for a while afterward, but," he sighed happily, "it doesn't bother me at all anymore. Not now that I have you."

"You were raped..." Blank said it more scornfully, fidgeting a little under Zidane's small weight. "You were raped and you never told...?"

"Uhh...why would I?" Zidane sounded genuinely confused. So honestly...Blank didn't know what it felt like to be raped, but he was pretty sure it was a horrifying feeling and one would want to seek assistance about it. Then again, Zidane sure seemed to be okay about the whole thing, but...

He shook his head. "Zidane, you should have told me! You should have told me right when you saw me again..." He hung his head. Zidane fidgeted in his lap and whined quietly.

"You'd just have gotten emotional, and I would have been emotional, and we'd end up doing something we'd regret."

"So you never would have told me...?" He sounded rejected.

"...Probably not...I might have told you before if I knew there was a chance of you...you know, loving me like that."

Blank lost his anger and found confusion instead. "Love...? What?"

Zidane chuckled. So Blank hadn't noticed when he said that.

"What's so funny?" He sounded now more lost than ever.

"You didn't notice? You said you love me."

"I...I what!"

"You did," Zidane insisted, feeling cat-like and sure of himself. "You said 'I'll still love you all the same.'"

"I...don't..." He started doubtfully. Zidane pouted and bit his lip.

"You don't love me? Well..." he cleared his throat, looking away and stopping with his small shape-drawing on Blank's bare chest.

"No...no! I meant, I don't remember saying that, but..." his face warmed up with fiery embarrassment, "...if I did, I'd say it again...I love you," he finished.

"Hmm," the blonde replied tactfully, "well...I guess I should tell you...I'm straight, and now that you've said that, I'm going to go tell everyone..."

"...!" Blank partly grunted, partly yelped, and partly gasped. Zidane laughed.

"I kid, I kid! Why would I ever do something like that! Lighten up." He wrapped his arms around the older boy's neck. "I love you, too!"

"..."

"What's wrong? Monkey got your tongue?" Zidane asked playfully, flicking at Blank's arm with his tail. Blank grunted and threw Zidane off his lap.

"You damned little oglop! I hate you and your stupid jokes!"

Zidane pouted. "Aw, you don't really mean it."

Blank only growled and leaned back against the wall again, crossing his arms. Despite what he just did, he already felt so empty without Zidane in his lap. But his pride stopped him from asking the blonde back.

"Hmm...well, you'll have to deal with me anyway," Zidane said with a chuckle as he forcefully tugged Blank down onto his back and placed himself atop the struggling boy, straddling his hips with his legs and holding his chest down with stronger-than-one-would-think arms.

After a while, Blank stopped struggling and grunting, realizing that he was exerting energy for a cause that he didn't really believe in...he liked their position.

"Whatever, bro," he said monotonously. Zidane smiled down at Blank, whom he could barely see.

"Alright...can I kiss you now?"

Blank forgot all trivial anger in an instant and his pulse drummed quickly.

Was he even he sure this wasn't another dream? No, but if it was, he'd make the most of it...he felt so wonderful right then, dreaming or not...

"...Please, yes," he finally said, and felt his heart swell with anticipation as he felt Zidane's first warm breath on the far side of his cheek. He smiled and opened his eye, to encounter no change in scenery whatsoever. "I'm over here," he whispered with a small chuckle.

"I know. I'm not _that_ stupid," Zidane pouted, taking in the scent of Blank's face, somewhat like sawdust or a fresh, wet forest.

He pulled his mouth over to the side, where he could almost feel Blank's lips. Gently and confidently (he had kissed the same lips many times before, and he was familiar with their shape,) Zidane locked them in a kiss. Blank lay unresponsive for a moment, then gasped quietly and pushed his lips up against the blonde's, finally knowing that this was real...a dream had never felt so perfect. He pulled back an inch.

"Mmm," Blank moaned quietly, obviously enjoying the boy's breath on his lips, "You're not stupid at all..." He reached up and caressed Zidane's full cheek, completely on end. "...you're perfect..."

"Flattery," Zidane said breathlessly, though his chest tightened with joy from the comment. "But you know just what to say...you play me so well..." His tail curled down and teased around the crook of Blank's elbow, drawing an involuntary shudder. It felt so amazing...

"Yeah, I...know..." The older boy was finding it hard to think and to breathe in their easily claustrophobic positioning. Zidane's hair, though heavenly, was nevertheless smothering his mouth and nose as the boy rested his head on his chest.

"Hmpph. You know, Blank, some things are better left unsaid," he said lazily as he lay on top of the older boy with his cheek over a quickly-beating heart.

"Something like 'I love you more than oglops?'" Blank inquired lightly, finally able to breathe as Zidane nuzzled his head downward a little.

"Summin' like that..." Zidane mumbled, kissing the warm skin of Blank's abdomen.

"Well, I don't follow anyone's rules but my own. Rule number 2: I say whatever I want to, no matter if it shouldn't be said."

"O-oh," Zidane panted, flicking his tongue at Blank's chest and taking in the salty taste before craning his neck up to gaze at the red-head, who was watching him intensely (at least, that was all he could make out in the darkness.) "What's rule number 1?"

Blank tightened his arms around Zidane's back and slid him up his stomach so their faces could meet again. He wet his drying lips with his tongue and reached it out, brushing it over Zidane's. The blonde grimaced once and shivered, parting his lips.

Suddenly they were tied into a voracious and passionate knot, gasping violently and drinking each other's breath as if consuming their only life source. Their tongues melded perfectly with each other, better than they ever had with previous lovers. Their breathing was not nearly in the levels of a healthy, live being, so eventually they had to break off.

Blank immediately crushed Zidane down to his chest, eye closed tightly in an expression close to desperation. "Zi...hff, hah..." he panted, "Zidane...Rule...hah...Rule number 1..."

He stopped speaking for a moment as both of them caught their breath. When he could finally speak again, he caressed the blonde's bare back and curled his body up to fit Zidane.

"Rule Number 1 is...Zidane is perfect, the best thing that's ever happened to me, and..." he paused, "I love him more than oglops."

"Hey!" Zidane swatted his hand at Blank's nose and gasped quietly. "Couldn't you have skipped that last part?"

"Refer to Rule Number 2," Blank told him with a laugh and received another swat.

"Oh, you cunning devil, you _slay_ me," Zidane said sarcastically, still panting lightly.

"But it's true, bro," Blank insisted with a smile.

"So? Don't you love _Cinna_ more than oglops? Last time I checked, you hate the little buggers." Zidane pouted and Blank was quieted.

"Oh my, you're right," the older boy wrinkled his nose at the thought of the little creatures anywhere near him. "Well...it's time to make an amendment."

"Eh?" Zidane sat up, and so did Blank, though he was still straddling the red-head's hips.

"An amendment to the Constitution of Blank," Blank said, tapping a finger to his chin thoughtfully. "Okay, since there's no parchment or ink, I'll just call you my witness on this change to the document."

"Al...right..." Zidane raised an eyebrow at Blank's somewhat ridiculous behavior.

"I hereby to change Rule Number 1 of the Constitution of Blank-and take note of this, Zidane!-from 'I love him more than oglops,' to say 'I love him more than-' HEY!"

Zidane giggled as he toppled Blank over and drowned him with hot kisses in mid-sentence. His tail went high above his head and flung around dangerously.

"Hehehe! Mmf-Zidane, you little bastard-ey, stop it fer a sec-hehehehehe! Hehe-hey! St-stop! Heheehe! EY!"

Blank had caught a fit of the giggles as Zidane showered him with affection. If they had actually been watching this scene from a logical standpoint, it would have looked to them to be...quite peculiar and ludicrous.

"H-Hehehhehehee! Mmfg! ARGH!" Blank finally pulled Zidane away, out of breath and face completely flushed, feeling his blood rushing to both his head and...elsewhere.

"Aw, that was funny, though. You laugh kinda weird," Zidane said impishly, struggling free of Blank's grip and sitting atop him.

"Hrrmph. First you complain about my Rule, then you interrupt me in the process of changing it just for you! That's it! Rule Number 3: Nobody suggests changes to the Constitution but me!"

"Hehehe. I'm fine with it, actually," Zidane licked his top lip and wiped a sweat from his forehead. "Er-d'ya think we're being too loud?"

Blank stopped for a second and sighed. "Damn, you're probably right...I'll go see if we woke anyone up..."

Blank carefully descended the creaky ladder and crept across the room. Just as he was about to open the door, he heard a crash and something like footfalls, but when he slammed the door open in surprise and looked around frantically, there was nothing. He glanced around suspiciously and closed the door again, climbing back to Zidane's bunk.

"What happened?" Zidane asked, chewing on a nail. Not that Blank could see it, but he was anyway. It was a long-standing nervous reaction to being in the dark, where he could see nothing and felt much too vulnerable.

"I have no idea," Blank admitted with a sigh, "I thought I heard someone but nobody was there...I don't think anyone's around. I hope.."

"Oh...okay," the younger boy shrugged and pushed Blank back on his back, straddling him and stealing kisses and licking up his neck hungrily. The boy shivered in pleasure but before their actions could escalate, he quickly pulled a hand up and stopped Zidane from continuing.

"Ey, if you think all this foolin' around means you get te' be on top, you're sadly mistaken, boy," he said sternly, and Zidane stopped for a moment. He grinned to himself and on the outside, put on his best tone to indicate distraught.

"B-but I need to be on top...I'm still...terrified...from-from Kuja...I might kill myself if I have to endure that again..." he sounded scared and shaky. '_Kill myself..._' Zidane mused to himself. As if...

Blank froze. What?

"Z-Zidane...? We don't have to...you know...you should have told me...don't...I...I don't know what to-"

"PSYCH! Hehehehehehe!" Zidane pounced on Blank again, leaving the other boy in confusion and a state of pure shock. "Can't believe you fell for that! You know I'm the best actor around!"

"...What the hell!" Blank finally registered the joke. "Zidane, don't you **ever** do something like that again! You scared the hell fire out of me, you damned monkey!"

"Shhhh!" Zidane bopped his nose again playfully, taking a sadistic pleasure from mortifying Blank so cruelly. "You'll wake the neighbors! Wouldn't want that to happen! Hehe!"

"..."

"Aw, don't be mad at me..." He quieted as they fell into their first silence in a long time.

He shifted, and heard Blank shifting. Perhaps he had gone too far with the joke? But Blank could always take a joke before...

"GAH!" Before Zidane could finish his thoughts, the older boy slammed him down on the bed, on the bottom this time. He felt rough breath graze his bare chest. "B-Blank..."

"Know this," Blank growled, sounding feral, "Rule Number 4 is that I only go all the way with someone if they want it..."

Zidane gasped and shuddered under the hot breath. "I-I want it, I swear..."

"Good," Blank continued, somewhat softer. "Rule Number 5: I'm **always** on top."

"...Then it's a deal."

Blank leaned down to kiss his neck. Zidane twitched and moaned heatedly, craning his body up to meet Blank's abdomen. He tangled his fingers in the older boy's hair and gently pulled off the headband that was always on his head. He was almost surprised when the red hair fell down from it's upward position and tickled his own neck. For some reason, he had always assumed that Blank's hair was up like that naturally...guess not...

"Mmm...Zidane...I was saying before...I really do love you...more than anything..."

Zidane only twisted in anticipation. Why had Blank stopped then? Right when he was getting into it...

"Blank," Zidane growled.

"Mm?"

"Shut the hell up and do me. **Now**."

Blank, for once in his life, proceeded to do as he was told.

**-o0o0o0o0o0o-**

"EY YOU GOOD-FER-NOTHIN' BUMS! GET YER ARSES OUT OF BED, FOOLS!"

Blank woke immediately, fully awake in an instant, and was for some reason held in place by a heavy object. He glanced down and the events of earlier that morning (well, it had been after midnight, indeed) registered in his full conscience. His face heated up as he felt warm legs tangled with his. He gently nudged Zidane awake.

"Hey...hey...get up, Baku is pissed..."

"Mmmf. Blank...that you?" He glanced up wearily and was shocked for a second; what he saw before him was not what he would have associated with Blank...sweaty, naked, and more importantly, his hair was down!

"Yeah...c'mon, get out of bed before they come in here and find us like this..."

"Ahhn!" Zidane bolted upright, all sleepiness losing itself from his being. He untangled himself from Blank with cumbersome movements, slightly embarrassed at the situation. His bum was killing him with a terrible pain, but...nevertheless, he had never felt so good.

"Blank..."

Blank looked up from where he was cleaning off. "What?" His eyes widened. "Damn...you regretting last night? We can...we can say it never-"

"N-no! Nothing like that!" Zidane insisted, pinkness kissing his flushed cheeks tenderly. "Honestly, it was the best I've felt in my life. And it still is..."

Blank only blushed and his lips tightened as he looked away and finished dressing.

"Zidane, toss me my headband, it's in your bed..."

Zidane only sat there looking coy. "I don't think I want to..."

"...What?" Blank glanced at him.

"You know, I like your hair down. It's really sexy," The blonde stuck his tongue out some, smiling devilishly and swinging his tail playfully.

"Oh, for heaven's sake," Blank was growing ever more impatient, "give me my damned headband!"

"Nope!" Zidane said cheerfully, sitting on the bed happily. "You look so hot. How could I let this opportunity go to waste?"

Blank looked to be struggling not to climb up and beat up the boy. His lips tightened and his eyebrow pulled downward, irritation evident in his eye.

"BLANK! GET THE HELL OUT HERE, NOW! I NEED TO TALK TO YE!"

The red-head groaned and gave Zidane a "we'll settle this later" look. He went out the door, self-consciously playing with his shoulder-length reddish hair. Zidane watched him slyly as he went, admiring the nicely layered hair that lay on Blank's head. It was a nice change. Very nice.

"BWAHAHA! Interesting hair, Blank! Care to explain yer lateness?"

"Sorry about that, Boss," he groaned at Baku, "We must've slept in from being so tired from that dress rehearsal at midnight..."

Of course, the old guilt trip never worked with Baku.

"GWAHAHAHA! Methinks you got a little tired from something else, fool! Perhaps it was that little tryst last night?"

Blank froze, mortified.

"B-boss, I-" '_Dammit!_' he thought in humiliation, '_I knew it! We were too loud!_'

"Don't give me any of that, boy." A strange event occurred then; something to go down in the annals of history (whatever annals should happen to be:)

Baku smiled softly, and looked...approachable. And he had spoken the first sentence that Blank could remember since the beginning of time without it having to be marked by an exclamation point, had it been written down.

Truly remarkable.

Baku laid his hand _gently_ on Blank's shoulder, thoroughly confusing him and everyone else who happened to be around.

"Listen here, and listen well: ye never have anything to hide from yer Tantalus brothers. Whatever and whoever you prefer is yer own decision, and being open 'bout it is the best thing ye can do for yerself."

He was dumbfounded, and quieted. So Baku knew about Zidane...and he probably had told everyone, as well...he wouldn't have been surprised if he had actually set up so that the whole group could _listen_ as they made love...

"Boss?"

"What?"

"How long did you know that Zidane and I are attracted...?"

"Why, since the very day I laid eyes on you two! GWAHAHA!" And just like that, Baku was back to his old self.

"R-really?"

"Sure as there's a hammer in Cinna's hand!"

"...Y-Yeah."

"Now, I won't have any of this mushy girly attitude! If ye want to have Zidane as yer lover, I won't complain, but no actin' like a girl-sure as salt, yer a man! Now, go call Zidane out here and help us with these renovations! Ye lazy bums've been out all morning! BWAHAHAHA!"

Blank scratched his head and ambled back into his room. Zidane was dressed, but he was laying in the bottom bunk, eyes open and looking very pensive.

"Ey, Baku wants you!"

"Mmrf."

"Zidane? Were you sleeping or something? What're you doin' in bed? And why're you in _mine_?"

"Ugh, so many questions! I'm just in bed!" The blonde flipped over tiredly and nuzzled into the covers. Suddenly Blank became jealous of the bed.

"Well...care to elaborate?"

"I just like the smell of you," Zidane explained. "It makes me calm and...content. Y'know."

Blank felt his face heat up as he stared at the boy. "O-Oh really..."

"Yessir!" Zidane gave one last hug to the covers and hopped off the bed. "You got a problem with me being there?"

"...Well, kinda...you wrecked the covers..."

"If that's how you feel," Zidane said, sticking his chin up, "then I say no sex for a week!"

Blank turned so red that his face was indistinguishable from his hair, especially now that it was down.

"Z-Zidane," he gasped, and the blonde walked over to him and captured him in a tight, throttling embrace.

"Hmmm?" He sighed happily, getting a stronger whiff of Blank's scent from the actual thing instead of some bed covers.

"You little bastard," he said scornfully, albeit quite endearingly.

"Nya." Zidane flicked his tongue over Blank's collarbone, drawing a flinch. "You saying you wouldn't sleep with me again?"

Blank looked away, trying to ignore the detail-oriented and quite tempting actions of the boy. "Are you saying _you_ wouldn't?"

"Hehehe. If that was really you last night, then there's no way in hell I'll let you outta my bed ever again."

"...okay..." The red-head reached up to adjust his headband like he did every 5 minutes or so as per usual, but realized it was gone still. It felt extremely weird.

"My headband..." he whimpered, and Zidane chuckled, leaning up to place a tactful kiss on the astonishingly taller boy's lips (or perhaps Zidane was just astonishingly short.)

"You'll never get it back," Zidane muttered with a chuckle. "You're so damn sexy, and that hair makes you even more hot. Where have you been all my life?"

Blank leaned down and kissed Zidane fully on his lips, wrapping his arms around the boy as they moaned with little reserve.

"I've been right here, you bastard," he said with a loving smile, brushing some of Zidane's hair off of his forehead. Zidane reached around him and smiled up at him, looking devilishly innocent. His hands found Blank's rear, and he grabbed at it, startling the taller boy thoroughly. His hands played upward to the lining of his pants, then trailed up his bare back to pull him down for one more kiss before releasing the gaping boy and strutting coyly out of the room, tail swinging slyly behind him as he walked.

Blank only stood for a moment, dumbfounded for the second time that day. What was that about? He never knew Zidane was so forward-

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! _ZI-DAAAAAAAAAANE_!"

He threw himself on the floor, yelping. So that's what it was! The tricky little fox had snuck into his pants-of all things-an oglop!

He fished it out and threw the dreadful creature across the room in disgust. "I love you more than oglops," indeed! He stood up and brushed himself off as he heard Zidane's and Baku's maniacal laughter out the door.

"ZIDANE, HAUL YER ASS BACK IN HERE, YOU BASTARD! OOOOOOHHHH, JUST YOU WAIT UNTIL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU! I HATE YER DAMNED GUTS!"

"Aw, you don't really mean it!" Zidane called back into the room through his hysterical laughter. This only angered Blank more.

"YE CAN BE SURE AS HELL I HATE THE LIVING DEVIL OUTTA YE, YE BUGGER! GET OVER HERE NOW!"

Panting and quite irritated, Blank leaned his hands on his knees to catch his breath. He stood up after a moment, and still hearing laughter outside, he slammed his feet in each step toward and out the door. As he slammed the door open, he saw Baku, Zidane, and the rest of Tantalus each having a good laugh over his misfortune.

"Zidane!"

"Hmmm?" The blonde smiled and glanced at him impishly. "What is it, my darling?"

Blank ignored the crude joke and glared daggers at him.

"Rule Number 6: Never, **ever** put oglops in my pants, or anywhere _else_ of mine, for that matter, even if I love the living hell outta ye!"

Zidane smiled and caught him in a playful hug.

"Hehehe! Awww...I love you too." And then, he reached up and kissed Blank, for all of Tantalus, and the whole world to see.

And Blank kissed him back.

**-o0o0o0o0o0o-**

I'm pleased with this ending :) Kekeke...didn't Zidane get on yer nerves with his little jokes? I can't believe he lied about being traumatized about Kuja! Poor Blank almost had a heart attack!

Zidane: Nyahahaha. It was fun.

Blank: blush Yep. I'm just glad we didn't have to make love for the whole world to see (read) on the internet.

Zidane: throws an oglop Kyahaha!

Blank: DAH! swats away

Rox: Yay, I FINISHED! BOO-JAH! And we stand at...**11,000** words flat for this fic! (At least, that's what MS Word is saying! Perhaps will change this?) That was the longest post I've EVER written!

Ta-ta! And...I'm really sorry about not posting an update for CoM...embarrassed!

Teizontidus


End file.
